Chapter 775 "Number One Favorite"
Lu Yanhe was actually quite curious about what Wu Yang from the Jose Film Festival was thinking.
Ultimately, Wu Yang will decide where the Jose Film Festival should go.
However, at this moment, he had to restrain himself and remain silent.
He had to understand his place in this matter. He was only initially responsible for making the connection, but he had to stay out of it because his position did not allow him to play a deeply involved role in the process.
Otherwise, if the Jose Film Festival were to actually be held in China, his excessive presence at the event could easily lead others to believe that he has a biased stance on the festival.
That would ruin his current favorable situation of being sought after by major film festivals.
The favor he receives from Hollywood and the Oscars may not necessarily continue.
Nobody wants to "raise a tiger to cause trouble".
-
This month, in addition to Lu Yanhe entering the second phase of filming for "No God", another movie of his also started filming this month.
He wrote the screenplay for "Flypaper".
This film was produced by Wan Qingqing, who was in charge of Linghe in North America.
This is also Linghe's first Hollywood film.
The film has garnered far more attention than was initially anticipated.
The "Lu Yanhe effect" brought about by "Home Alone" and "Buried" has caused his screenplays to soar in value in Hollywood, and the films adapted from his screenplays have also entered the anticipation and review of major media outlets.
No one dares to say that "Flypaper" won't be the next low-budget, high-return film.
In fact, following the box office success of films like "Home Alone" and "Buried," Hollywood has already initiated several similar projects aimed at achieving big returns with small investments.
It's just that we don't know what the final results of these projects will be.
-
Lu Yanhe did not intend to shift his focus to Hollywood, but in reality, he was not less prominent than those stars who did.
The film "Godless" was one of the most anticipated and talked-about projects in Hollywood at the moment.
Every day, there are many paparazzi staking out the film set to take pictures.
This also means that Lu Yanhe is frequently photographed and appears in various tabloids and media outlets, keeping him "active" in the public eye from time to time.
Lu Yanhe wasn't really used to this kind of pace.
He wouldn't be photographed this frequently even in China.
There are no paparazzi in China who specialize in photographing celebrities' outings (and can make money just by taking a few photos of them traveling).
However, others told him that all Hollywood stars are like that, without exception.
Lu Yanhe was not used to it, but he could only accept it for the time being.
What surprised Lu Yanhe even more was that the filming of "No God" was arguably the best-managed film crew he had ever worked with.
Lu Yanhe felt this way because he was very efficient in filming "No God".
Basically, from the moment he arrives on set to the moment he leaves, he spends almost no time there in vain. He doesn't need to wait, and it's rare for a scene to be ruined by some objective factor and need to be reshot. Previously, when Lu Yanhe was filming, he often encountered technical problems such as prop errors, out-of-focus shots, and coordination mistakes. Every time such a problem occurred, it required reshooting.
During the filming of "No God", Lu Yanhe would usually take a half-day or a day off after filming for three or four days.
In the past, Lu Yanhe wouldn't have dared to even dream of such a thing. A supporting actor like him, who was essentially a lead, would be able to take a break during filming.
This kind of crew management model is truly industry-leading.
That's why it's said that you should spend time in top-tier project teams; you can learn a lot from there.
If a film crew is managed using top-tier production management methods, costs can be significantly reduced. For example, Feng Xiaogang's film *Sunflower* only required a budget of 20 million yuan to produce.
But this is something only a top-tier director team like Feng Xiaogang's can achieve.
Even reducing the shooting time of a movie by one-third can save a lot of costs.
However, "Sunflower" and "Godless" are different. The "Sunflower" crew was a small-scale crew, which was relatively easier to manage. For a large-scale production like "Godless," with hundreds of people, maintaining such order was no easy feat.
After filming "Wolf Warrior 2," Wu Jing said that, due to differences in industrial standards, the cost of making a film in his production was several times that of a Hollywood film, which was very wasteful. However, this waste was unavoidable because he didn't know how to avoid it.
This is why Guo Fan specifically hired several college students to take notes on set when filming "The Wandering Earth 2". It was so that when everyone was working in disarray, someone could take comprehensive notes, learn from the lessons, summarize the experience, and provide rich first-hand information for further optimizing the management of the crew.
Lu Yanhe really wanted to delve into the management of the "Godless" production team and learn how they operated.
These are all experiences accumulated and optimized by Green Valley Company over decades of film production.
-
Lu Yanhe originally wanted to visit the set of "Flypaper", but the filming location of "Flypaper" was not in the same place as "Godless".
However, Wan Qingqing's ability to handle things was evident from the preparation and operation of this project.
This project has encountered frequent problems, with new issues to resolve almost every day. However, Wan Qingqing has rarely sought help from Linghe headquarters and has solved them all on her own.
However, when there was a severe shortage of manpower, Wan Qingqing directly asked the company to call Song Jiang over to help.
The pressure on the two of them to start a film project from scratch, especially one that grows bigger and attracts more and more attention, is unimaginable.
Chen Ziyan said to Lu Yanhe, "After completing the 'Flypaper' project, Wan Qingqing has truly become capable of handling things on her own."
Lu Yanhe said, "Actually, she has already started to stand on her own."
Chen Ziyan nodded.
“Once the ‘Flypaper’ project is finished and released, she’ll definitely be targeted by other film companies,” Chen Ziyan asked. “Have you thought about her plans afterward?”
Lu Yanhe said, "She is actually already the head of Linghe's North American region. After the 'Flypaper' project is completed, we will officially give her this position and a 50% raise. What do you think?"
"A 50% raise?" Chen Ziyan was a little surprised. "Her previous salary was already quite high. Shouldn't this be given after the box office results of 'Flypaper' are released?"
"By the time we pay them after the box office results for 'Flypaper' are out, other companies will have already started snatching them up, right?"
“That’s for sure. But even so, we are still the most competitive,” Chen Ziyan said. “The contract she signed with Linghe already included a one-year non-compete agreement after she became a full-time employee. Under normal circumstances, if Linghe can provide her with a platform and a high salary, she will not choose to leave.”
“First, in my opinion, the box office performance of ‘Flypaper’ will definitely be good; second, I prefer to give it to her sooner rather than later. Giving it to her later is like hindsight, while giving it to her sooner is like having a discerning eye,” Lu Yanhe said. “Third, Linghe has so many projects to work with in North America and Hollywood, and she has fully proven that she has the ability to do so. So what is there to wait for? Anyway, she is already in charge of North America, isn’t she?”
Chen Ziyan said, "No, what I mean is, if you raise her salary so much before 'Flypaper' is a box office success, and then 'Flypaper' becomes a box office hit, are you not going to do anything about it? You need to know that in ancient times, some generals were so great that even the emperor couldn't bestow any more titles upon them. You should also leave yourself some room for maneuver."
Lu Yanhe thought about it and realized that Chen Ziyan made a good point.
"Sister Ziyan, what do you think would be the best course of action after 'Flypaper' is finished filming?"
Chen Ziyan said, "Let's start with a small increase, 20% for a promotion and raise. That's a reasonable amount. Once 'Flypaper' is released and does well, you can give her another raise, say 10% or 20%, depending on the box office performance and company profits. But it shouldn't be too much. The reason for not giving her too much is to avoid giving her the illusion that she can get a raise for every successful film. Otherwise, it will make things difficult later. For the first successful film she produces, she will be rewarded with a raise. For subsequent projects, she will be rewarded according to market practice. As the producer, she will have priority in receiving an incentive-based share of the investment. At the same time, based on the production process and box office performance of each film, Linghe will reward her with an end-of-year bonus."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
He said, "I understand, I'll do it that way."
Chen Ziyan: "Compared to a fixed income, for someone like Wan Qingqing who will become a powerful figure in the future and help Linghe conquer the world, it is more appropriate to incentivize her with a fluctuating income. Moreover, you should support and praise her, but you can't give her too much at once, otherwise it will be easy to have a big difference between the beginning and the end, which will also affect your relationship with her. This is a big taboo."
Lu Yanhe felt that Chen Ziyan was truly teaching and guiding him step by step.
"Okay, I understand."
-
"Lu, you're back with another film to compete in this year's awards season. How are you so prolific?"
During a break from filming "Godless," Lu Yanhe spoke on the phone with Lune Ries, the director of "Source Code." They were originally talking about "Source Code," but as they talked, they ended up discussing "Raise the Red Lantern."
Lu Yanhe asked, "Did you go see this movie?"
“Not yet, I’ve been too busy lately,” Lune Ries said. “There were some problems with the post-production of Doomsday. When I was urgently recalled to follow up on the post-production, even the preparation for Source Code was stopped.”
Lu Yanhe: "Huh? Is it a big problem?"
Lune Reese said, "We found a big bug during editing, and we were hesitant about how to fix it. I was trying to get Parameter to agree to do a reshoot."
Lu Yanhe: "Reshoots? That would be quite a lot of pressure, wouldn't it be difficult to coordinate the actors' schedules?"
Lune Reese said, "Yes, but the rest of the film was shot well, and it would be a shame not to reshoot it to fix this flaw."
"If the parameters aren't reshot, are there any other ways to salvage the situation?"
“If we can’t reshoot, I can only do some technical work by narrating from the sidelines,” Lune Reese said. “We can’t leave a very obvious flaw for people to nitpick after the film is released.”
Lu Yanhe nodded.
That's true.
How much would a reshoot cost?
"It will cost around 5 million and take 4 days to film."
"Oh!" Lu Yanhe thought to himself, "That's quite a lot."
"The main problem is that the reshoots for Derain require a very high fee," Lune Rees sighed.
For big-name Hollywood stars, the contract they sign with the film company usually includes the reshoot fee.
After all, for them, this is all done on a daily basis.
A professional and well-established brokerage system will also ensure that their clients do not suffer any losses.
-
Lu Yanhe thought about it afterward. Whether Parameter would agree to reshoot the film depended on how confident Parameter was in the movie "Doomsday".
If they're confident enough, they'll definitely agree to reshoots. A $5 million additional investment is negligible compared to hundreds of millions of dollars in box office revenue.
However, if they lack confidence and believe that the film will flop based on the footage they have already shot, and they are unwilling to invest any more money and want to cut their losses in time, then they will not agree to reshoot.
Lu Yanhe is still very interested in the movie "Doomsday".
First, after all those complicated changes, he also listed himself as a producer on the film.
Secondly, all three lead actors in this film have close ties to him. Derain Dylan's *Hurricane 2* made his second Hollywood film a global box office hit, especially with the significant increase in the proportion of Asian viewers. This box office success was partly attributed to Lu Yanhe, playing a crucial role in helping him further solidify his position in Hollywood and secure his salary. Jiang Jun and Jiang Yuqian, needless to say, have close relationships with him.
Some people are right; Lu Yanhe genuinely hopes to help some actors gain international recognition alongside him. A single tree cannot make a forest; it's almost impossible for one person to change the balance of the entire world. Only through gradual accumulation can one achieve great things. Jiang Jun gained global recognition because of the success of "The Squid Game," and many people know him as the male lead. Jiang Yuqian, however, is not only doing well but has also worked very hard to pursue an international career. Although she has struggled a lot in recent years, she appears to be thriving to outsiders.
If Doomsday is a commercial success, it will be a huge help to both of them in taking on English-language films in the future, especially Hollywood films.
So, after thinking about it, Lu Yanhe decided to call Zebi Doyle to see if there was anything he could do.
Zebi Doyle answered the phone immediately.
Buried, with a production cost of no more than $1.5 million, grossed nearly $200 million worldwide, making Parameter a fortune. Now, Lu Yanhe is considered Zebi Doyle's "number one star".
Upon learning of Lu Yanhe's intentions, Zebi Doyle said, "We are indeed still considering this matter. The footage we have produced so far for 'Doomsday' is still of very good quality. However, this bug is not significant. Lu Nei has also proposed another way to patch it. Although the effect is slightly worse, it can save several million dollars."
Lu Yanhe understood what Zebi Doyle meant.
He asked, "Do you think that even though the effect is slightly worse, using another method won't affect the overall quality of the film?"
“Yes,” Zebi Doyle said. “To be honest, this bug is a setting issue, but Lune wanted to fill in the gap with a storyline, and if that storyline is added, the movie will be even longer.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Yanhe suddenly understood.
He understood Zebi Doyle's subtext.
This isn't just about the five million dollars in reshoots; it also involves the final runtime of the film.
Film companies have very strict requirements regarding the length of a movie.
Unless you're the biggest director of all time, like James Cameron, OK, you have special privileges, but normally, a movie is generally required to be kept to 2 hours.
Conflicts between film directors and film companies often manifest in editing, with the final length of the film being a major point of contention.
To achieve greater commercial success for a film, roughly speaking, the longer the runtime, the fewer screenings it will receive. On a deeper level, film companies also firmly believe—based on years of market feedback—that audiences don't have the patience to watch overly long films, and generally, the longer the film, the worse its commercial performance.
After learning that "Destruction Day" had such a consideration, Lu Yanhe didn't say much.
Zeby Doyle asked, "Lu, are you really not planning to write a sequel to Buried?"
“This idea is only used once and cannot be replicated,” Lu Yanhe said. “It’s novel once, but it gets boring after two times.”
Zebi Doyle said, "Given the success of the original, even if the sequel receives less favorable reviews, it will definitely do well at the box office."
Lu Yanhe: "I care about my reputation. I don't want to write a script that will make people criticize me for rehashing old material."
Zeby Doyle asked, "Would you be willing to sell us the sequel development rights to Buried?"
Lu Yanhe: "...Zebi, are you serious? You think a sequel can be made? Can make money?"
“Yes,” Zeby Doyle said. “Even if the cost increases to ten million or even twenty million, the film’s box office performance will certainly not be bad.”
Lu Yanhe could understand it.
However, he himself was not willing to earn this money.
It's a complete rip-off.
"The ending of the movie 'Buried' actually hints that the male protagonist is dead. Are you going to resurrect him in the sequel?" Lu Yanhe asked.
Zebi Doyle said, "Yes."
"You contacted Li Zhibai? Li Zhibai is willing to act in the second part?" Lu Yanhe asked in surprise.
“Lu, I know he’s a good friend of yours, but if we’re going to make a sequel, we need him. He’s the only star in Buried, and I hope you can help us convince him to star in the sequel,” Zeby Doyle said. “At least don’t stop him.”
“Zebi, I definitely won’t be writing the sequel script myself. It’s not that I can’t get the rights, but if I license my script to someone else to develop a sequel, I’ll require them to give me a general direction for the adaptation. I can’t accept being drastically altered,” Lu Yanhe said. “I have to tell you, this is very complicated. I’m not someone who agrees easily. Besides, Li Zhibai is my friend. The success or failure of one or two films is insignificant to him than dust. If the script you provide is truly good, and you have a good idea to continue the story, I won’t stop him; I might even encourage him to continue. But if the script is terrible, even if you’re unhappy, I will tell him my opinion. The failure of one or two films won’t matter to Parameter, but for a foreign actor like him who has just arrived in Hollywood, one failure is enough to ruin his development in Hollywood and all the achievements he’s made with his previous work.”
Zebi Doyle remained silent for a long time on the other end of the phone.
Lu Yanhe did not urge him.
He knew his words were a bit harsh, but he believed in the principle of "speaking frankly beforehand."
After a long while, Zebi Doyle finally said, "I understand."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
